Skynet's Rise
by Meeks
Summary: We all know skynet becomes self-aware, but the question is- how? (be warned I'm not going fully based on the movie(S)
1. Patience

I. 1.1.11

"Coffee George?"

"Nah, that's alright, I'm shaking as it is," George was impatient, it was only 9am but the nerves had already got him. He didn't want to wait he couldn't wait, he wanted to turn the damned thing on himself- 

"You _are_ aware its just a computer right?" 

Of course he was aware. Of course that was like saying Madonna was just a girl, or The Chargers just a football team.

"Look, Mike, I know you in all honesty, don't know a computer from a cracker, but, its important to me, and I would appreciate it if you didn't belittle my.. Our life's work. You know that 100,000 dollar car that if possible, you'd have sex with? that's _just _a car. How do you like that?" That was harsh George knew, but it was said in a joking vein, and so what if Mike has a car fetish. They were in the break room, Mike reading the paper. Everything was down. Disney Down, Apple Down, Microtosh (Following the previous year's merger) down. The only stock that was doing good _really_ good was Sky-Net. Of course that success hinged on today. 

There was your standard vending machine, made just convenient enough to eat your change and lodge your soda between the retrieving arm and the automated popper thingy. In all his wisdom, and his degrees and his certifications, he couldn't, for the life of him figure out why the hell he needed a machine to pop his coke open for him. But that was unimportant. There was a nice table, metallic, and automated to the point where it there wasn't anything on it. It would enter a self cleaning routine, so it would never be sticky. Just wet sometimes. The automation of some things never amazed George, he designed most of them

-except- for that dang bottle popper. The chairs were standard fair, metal, but comfortable, never too cold, never to warm. You never stuck to them. He saw Mike walk over to the coffee machine.

"Coffee 2 sugars, cream,"

"Who in the hell puts two sugars in their coffee mike?" Mike shrugged. The machine entered its routine of pouring coffee and pouring sugar and cream into the paper cup. 

"Hey, I got a full house" Mike, for whatever reason, had the best luck in the world and was the most intelligent computer tech he ever met. Mike was always calm, cool, collected. Never really let anything grab him by the balls. He only saw him get truly excited once. When the computer routine Mike built responded to a joke. It was a minor step- but that led to where they were today, 15 years- god it sounds so long when he said it to himself. 15 years ago, the possibility of self aware computers become not a fantasy, and not a matter of how, but when. Mike actually cried when it happened, and from this day, that joke is always been with him. Amused- George had an idea.

"Hey, for good luck, how do you know a Frenchman has been in your backyard?"

"Your Garbage is gone and your dog's pregnant" Mike said, and sipped his coffee in roughly 45 minutes, 44 now actually, AI would be born, 15 years of his and Mikes work would be encompassed in a computer that be self-aware. Mike chuckled.

"I say we name him HAL." Mike chucked again. George afforded himself a meager laugh, more of a squeak. 

"How about not?" George leaned back, and though of all the questions he wanted to ask his new friend that would be born soon.


	2. Activation

II. 1.1.11

Creating It took 15 years. They found a machine at a refinery, terribly advanced, resembled an arm. The micro processors inside just one the fingers was enough to keep then busy for years. Then the second renaissance. Computer innovation took place at an unbelievable pace . The things computers and machines could do now where amazing. More amazing was this day. The actual boot. Mike and George were wearing there sterile suits, they accompanied by Josh Morris and Steven Osborne. Both of them were there to monitor the actual loading. There was a reception planned in George and Mike's honor. George didn't really care, if he had a fully functioning machine that could respond and fool him into believing it was real, he would spend all night with him.

"Gentlemen, Today, we witness history," Mike was one for dramatics. He went over to the wall of the room they were in. The room was sleek, clean, and white- white enough to hurt your eyes. However Both George, Mike, Steve and Josh had grown acclimated to it. Mike pushed a button on the wall and a small compartment opened, and a small robotic arm holding the SAPU- Self Aware Processing Unit. There work was there in the robots hand. Mike took it. He sort of sauntered towards the Computer. He pushed a button on the computer. The computer, if it could be called that, was roughly 4 feet by 4 feet and had been being built innovation by innovation for 10 years. At its current state, with the now obsolete APU - Aware Processing Unit - it was capable of giving responses but it wasn't completely self aware. To George, Self aware was to form opinion. The second any computer can say something is good, or bad, then to George, its self aware. Mike opened the case with his key card. The sleek metallic casing slid backwards slowly, revealing the inner workings. The Processor was so far advanced that to even comprehend it would take all of his brainpower. George Summed it up in a word : Human. Steve and Josh looked anxiously on, and George received the APU from mike. He put it down carefully on a metallic table housing the input units. (Keyboard, Mouse, Drawing pad, Visual Recognition unit) Mike placed the SAPU in the spot, and closed the case. 

"Care to do the Honor's Mr. George?" Mike asked?

"Gladly" George responded. He pushed the power button. Whirring, lots of whirring, and noise. He pushed on the monitor button.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you."

"You sonofabitch!" George exclaimed!

"It's a onetime only thing. Don't worry" The four people in the room witnessed history.

The computer screen turned a black color, and text appeared on the screen.

WHAT IS MY NAME

"Well Gentlemen any ideas?" George asked, still a little angry with Mike.

"How about SAM? Self Aware Machine?"

George leaned over the keyboard, and pressed S-A-M into the keyboard, and hit Enter. 

"Sam- Hebrew in Origin, meaning GOD hears" The machine punched out, all information taken from its database would be written in proper grammar, whereas all self-thinking information would be in all capitals

"He's good" Mike whispered still in complete amazement. The Machine started to Write again.

"I LIKE THAT NAME"


	3. This is a test

III. 1.1.11 This is a Test

Amazement was a good word to describe it. The next several weeks would be spent teaching SAM. SAM already had a connection the internet to fetch various information from the depths of cyberspace. 

Mike typed that his name was mike into the keyboard.

HELLO MIKE

George typed his name into the keyboard also

HELLO GEORGE

Steve and Josh typed there respective names also. 

HELLO STEVE AND JOSH

The machines VRU (Visual Recognition unit) raised up and went by all of their faces the red eye scanned all of them, slowly. 

STEVE IS A DIFFERENT COLOR

MIKES HAIR IS COVERING HIS EYES, PLEASE REMOVE IT. 

Mike swiftly removed the hair covering his eyes. The scanner raised again and studied his face. 

MIKE'S EYES ARE BLUE

GEORGE'S EYES ARE GREEN

STEVE'S EYES ARE BROWN

JOSH'S EYES ARE ALSO BROWN

"Color recognition already?" Mike said, startled. George was surprised also. He was amazed that something He and Mike had been working on slowly for so long had finally worked and worked well. _my eyes are green_, _he likes his name._ all this time Steve and Josh had been documenting various inner workings and electrical currents, all rather un-interesting stuff, which is why Mike and George where the guys who developed the technology and the not the ones who physically built it. They didn't spend 8 years in college learned about Ohms and Watts and Voltage to do the grunt work. 

"Do we want to initiate the Speech program?" Mike asked, he was apparently ready to make this thing more human than it already was. George wanted to test some things first,

"Uh, give me a second Mike, I want to try some things," George sat down in the chair in front of the computer. He drew a circle on the writing pad

IT'S A ROUND OBJECT- NOT PERFECTLY ROUND, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A HUMAN TO DRAW A PERFECT ANYTHING FREE HAND.

Surprised, George decided to run with this to see how human this computer can be.

"Isn't that harsh?"

NO- IT'S A COMPLETELY HONEST OPINION. HUMANS ARE INCAPABLE OF MANY THINGS.

"What an _asshole_" Mike chuckled, he was aware that the computer was going to do this, with the processor came a basic set of instructions essentially telling the machine what it is and what it does.

"What is two plus two" George knew this was going to get annoying- saying what he typed- but they needed to document. Mike was also furiously documenting this however only the responses and the effects it had on the SAPU

4

"Good Job, what is two times two"

4

"If I have two apples, and add two oranges, how many fruits do I have?"

4 FRUITS

"Five if you count yourself George" Mike said jokingly

"Okay, we're going to turn you off now" George typed. He wasn't sure what type of response this would garner, but he wasn't worried. It was only a machine.

WHY

"Because we need to update your software"

WHY

"To make you better."

HUMANS CANNOT SHUT DOWN TO BE MADE BETTER. NOTHING ORGANIC CAN, WHY CAN I? IS IT BECAUSE I AM A MACHINE?

"Correct Don't worry you'll be You'll be back,"

I'LL BE BACK

The computer shutdown

"Ok, Mike, lets load in that voice software, and put in the speech recognition,"

"Yes Master, right away master," Mike walked away with a fake limp and hunched over.

"Ha Ha," George leaned back in his chair this SAPU could be the next big innovation… Hell, it _was _the next big innovation. George now looked at the darkened screen. He was never one to look towards the future, but he saw his future in the glass. A Nobel peace prize maybe? Get on the tonight show- tell a joke here and there. Certainly he'd be rich beyond his wildest dreams. Money wasn't the driving force behind his research- but it didn't hurt as an incentive. Mike's luck had taken money out of the equation- winning two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars on a scratch ticket. Mike had the luck. _luck_ in all actuality- it was just a number of mathematical equations and he happened to be picked. George never really believed in that type of thing- luck, the paranormal, aliens, fate, he didn't believe in that. He heard a snap and came out of his little daze, funny how one thing in your mind can lead to another.

"Earth to George, come in George,"

"Okay, lets load in the Voice Software, and the emotion recognition," Steve and Josh documented this. All software for the SAPU was loaded in small chip-like modules into the back of the system. Mike plugged both of those in. 

"Your turn Mike, turn him on," Mike flipped the switch and the computer made the similar noises, crunching and whirring, all normal to George and Mike alike

"Hello George, Hello Mike, Hello Josh, Hello Steven" The computer chirped, and displayed the same thing onscreen George Smiled, the computer talked- a mechanical voice, like something out of the late 90's but it was a start.

"Hot Damn!" Mike said. He wasn't aware the Microphone was being used

"Hot Damn? Damn is not a noun. Is this slang?" The computer asked. 

"Indeed it is Sam, it's said when something good happens." Mike said beaming

"Okay, Sam, We're going to run some tests is that okay with you?"

"It is acceptable" The computer said. The computer said something, a machine said something that it decided. George and Mike had decided on what tests they would perform when the SAPU went active. A lot of little things, voice recognition, see if can respond to Emotion.

"Hello Sam, This is George," George said.

"Hello George" The computer said.

"Hello Sam, This is Mike"

"Hello Michael" The computer said.

"Hello Sam, this is Mike," This was the test George thought.

"No it is not, this is George"

"Hot Damn!" Mike exclaimed it was a step- a step towards security

"Did I make you express a happy emotion?"

"Yes you did Sam, you could tell whom was whom," George said

"Thank you George,"


	4. IV Break Room

IV 1.11.11 Break Room

It was late they, had been with SAM all day. It only seemed like fifteen minutes however. George and Mike were back in the break room. 

"Holy Shit dude, we did it!" Mike said. George afforded himself a laugh,

"Sam is my new favorite name, if I have a kid- that's what I'm naming him/her" George was smiling he went over to the vending machine he pushed the button for coke and waited. It seemed a little more amazing to him, he could see a vending machine that will pick the drink for you, based on your personality, 

"Hey I don't know what I want, how's the root beer?"

"It is sweeter then Mug, Gassier then Barq's"

George snapped out of it as his coke arrived popped and ready to drink.

"Mike, should we be worried? I mean given the wrong hands this could be used for evil,"

"Okay Uncle Ben, I know, with great power comes great responsibility," Mike said, being the Comic genius he is.

"I think we should try and stretch him a little bit when we get back. What are Josh and Steve doing with him now?" George was anxious to see what his new friend could do

"Test him how? Ask him the meaning of life?" Mike said offhand, he was eating a three bean salad for some ungodly reason.

"You know, maybe we should, ask him questions we don't have answers for ask him what he thinks, if he likes us. Tell him a joke or two," George had a bit of an epiphany. 

"What if, we treat him like one of our own, like he's a good friend just hang out and shoot the shit in front of him. Maybe even write a subroutine for curiosity." George was on a roll now, his eyes were lit up.

"We could even attach a cybernetic arm to him maybe, like the one on the coke machine- give him tactile impressions,"

"Yeah! And give him a second eye sensor so he can read depth," Mike said also excited. 

George caught himself. He didn't want to get too far ahead of himself they still needed to make sure this thing wasn't going to collapse when you play music to it. George had millions of thoughts in his head 99.9 percent of them he couldn't really use yet. One thing bothered him however, but it was nothing- that red eye that scanned their faces seemed, He guessed, foreboding, scary even. But again, it was just a machine. And this machine couldn't hurt anyone.


	5. V Conversation

V. Conversation 1.11.11

"What's he been up to?" George asked, Josh and Steve had been watching over Sam, and George figured they couldn't resist conversing with SAM. 

"He hasn't really been talkative. More then anything he's been just going over the internet searching for information and things on culture. He has a thing for World War II, and he pulled up a text of the novel 1984," Steve took a breath. "Yea, and he has a thing 2001: A space odyssey," Steve said.

"Damn it Mike!" George said, kind of furiously he was going to continue but Mike cut him off.

"Hey, hey, don't look at me. He was probably curious about his boot up message and wanted to do some research" Mike said, shrugging it off. 

__

"Do not worry, I do not plan to re-produce the functions of HAL from the Stanley Kubric Film, TWO-THOUSAND-AND-ONE a space odyssey." It seemed like Sam paused for a moment to think. Get that, _think_. 

"When I am in the room, I am aware to you I am just an experiment, but, I do not appreciate you acting as though I am not a conscience being." George immediately thought to all of the old computer games he would play. Whenever a character was surprised an exclamation point would appear above their head. He felt like one just appeared above his. This was amazing, The machine was capable of feeling. Feeling what he didn't know, but feeling in general.

"Sammy baby, don't worry about it. It won't happen again, we forgot. Also, you're much more then just a machine to us." Mike was always relatively good at playing peace-maker, of course, he had never played peace-maker between a machine and a group of scientists. 

"Okay then, Sam, why did you locate that movie on the internet?" George said trying to be as delicate as possible, being delicate to a machine, he felt almost crazy.

"I am in a similar situation George, because Hal was also a sentient computer." Fair enough George thought it wasn't as though Sam could hurt either of them.

"And as for 1984?" Mike asked, 

"The theories put forth by that book and the works of Marx both seem…Intriguing." Same was a communist? Great.

"With all people having a designated job and being told what to do, it raises efficiency, there is no need for differences. All that is needed is a "Big Brother" to designate whom needs to do what." 

"What about freedom of choice? Freedom to peruse ones dreams" Mike asked, looking a bit worried. Sam's red camera eye raised and looked stared at mike.

"Freedom, Mike, is irrelevant." Mike laughed a kind of shocked laugh

"Mike, George, Steve, Josh, Do not worry, I do not hold your beliefs against you, there is nothing wrong with having infer- different opinions," Sam said, George noticed that the words has since stopped appearing on the screen.

"George, In theory, what you call communism, should work." Sam said


End file.
